Download MUSC 1000 Intro to Music

MUSC 1000
Intro to Music
MWF
10-10:50
Some General Questions:
What is Music?
Where do we listen to music?
Are there any composers or bands you know or like?
What are the “classical” composers you have heard of ?
What do you think about when you hear the term “classical
music?”
Listening:
Can you describe what you are hearing?
Similarities? Differences?
Course Objectives:
Learn to listen to music – not just to
hear it
Learning the vocabulary of music
Basics – Ch. 1
Definition of music:
Music is an art based on the organization of Sounds in
Time
A sound – any sound is the result of vibrations in the air put
in motion through the activation of a sounding body
Musical Sound – these vibrations are so steady and definite
that they produce what is called a TONE or NOTE – the
highness or lowness or which is called PITCH
Precise pitch is determined by the FREQUENCY
The faster the frequency the higher the pitch and the slower, the
lower
In writing music, the higher pitches to towards the top and
the lower pitches go towards the bottom of the MUSIC
STAFF
STAFF – five lines on or in between which the notes are
placed.
Contour of Music
Star Spangled Banner
Distance between two pitches is called the INTERVAL
Two of the same notes played at the same time is called a
UNISON
The distance between two of the same notes that are higher
or lower than each other is called an OCTAVE
PIANO KEYS
Distance covered over the whole piece (highest to lowest ) is
called PITCH RANGE
DYNAMICS are what tells musicians how LOUDLY or
SOFTLY to play music
Dynamic Range and Markings:
Very soft – pianissimo - pp
Soft – piano – p
Medium soft – metso piano – mp
Medium load – metso forte – mf
Loud – forte – f
Very loud – fortissimo – ff
Gradually getting louder – crescendo
Gradually gettting softer - diminuendo
Different instruments and voices sound differently
– these special sounds that characterize the instruments and
voices is called TIMBRE
All of these small parts comprise the first element of music –
SOUND
Rhythm
The ordered flow of music through time
The regular, recurrent pulsation of music is called BEAT
Some notes happen for the duration of one of these beats – and some
are for longer, or shorter
LISTENING
In the same example – notice that some of the beats are stronger
than others – this divides music up into what are called MEASURES
– in this example – groups of three
123123123123123 etc
Notes that sound louder than the others have what are called
ACCENTS
The organization of the beats into a measure is called
METER
If there are 2 beats it is called DUPLE meter – and 4 beats –
quadruple meter. 5 – quintuple
Notes that are in between the beats and are accented are
called SYNCOPATED notes
All aspects of rhythms are affected by TEMPO – the speed at
which songs are played.
TEMPOS
Very slow:
largo, grave
Slow
lento, adagio
Moderate
andante, moderato
Fast
allegretto, allegro
Very fast
vivace, presto, prestissimo
MELODY
Where RHYTHM deals with the time of the piece, MELODY is
the series of PITCHES that fit into the RHYTHM
Definition: “A series of notes that add up to a recognizable whole”
Notes that move right net to one another move by STEP – those
that move far away move by LEAP
Notes in a melody that are connected to each other very
flowingly are said to be LEGATO
Notes that have lots of space in between them are called
STACATTO
Melody (Cont.)
The MELODIES of songs are often made up of shorter
sections called PHRASES – these PHRASES will ultimatey
find a state of rest called a CADENCE
Listening Example
In longer pieces of music, phrases that become important
because the repeat themselves often are called THEMES
HARMONY
Where MELODY is the vertical line up of notes,
HARMONY is the horizontal way that the notes are put
together – sounded simultaneously.
Notes stacked on one another are called CHORDS – The
simplest CHORD is made up of three notes and is called a
TIRAD – the lowes of these notes is called the TONIC note.
Series of notes that are played not all at once, but one right
after another is called an ARPEGGIO
Many of these CHORDS in a row are called a CHORD
PROGRESSION
Chords that sound nice together are described as having
CONSONANCE
DISSONANCE is the sound when the chords seem to be
fighting with each other – waiting to resolve – this adds
forward motion to music and adds to the uncertainty until
the tension is released.
Chapter 2
Main Characteristic of Western Music is it’s reliance on
TONALITY as an organizer.
TONALITY is the idea of the use of the TONIC – the
central not on which a piece is organized. If the central note
is C, then we say that the piece s in the KEY of C
C Major Scale (Piano)
C Minor Scale – is very similar, but it uses some of the black
keys as well – when we use the black keys and lower the
notes, the notes are called FLATS – when we raise the notes
– they are called SHARPS
It is difficult to tell the exact key of a piece – however, it can
be heard if a piece is in a major or minor sound – or
TONALITY
Very Simply – if the piece sounds happy – it is in major – sad
is in minor.
When the TONIC is different than the note C – the scale
changes with different numbers of flats and sharps – These
are labeled at the beginning of the staff – this label is called
the KEY SIGNATURE
When all of the notes on the piano are played between two
octave notes, it is called the CHROMATIC SCALE
Sometimes longer pieces of music change from one tonal
center to another during the flow of the music – when this
happens, we call it MODULATION
We think of the horizontal alignment of the notes as the
MELODY and the vertical alignment of the notes as the
HARMONY – the way that these two elements are
interwoven – or how they interact with one another creates
the TEXTURE of the piece –
There are many different possible textures of music – similar
to different fabric types
There are three basic textures in western music
MONOPHONY
POLYPHONY
HOMOPHONY
MONOPHONIC
The simplest kind of music – just one melodic line with no
accompaniment
POLYPHONIC
When two or more musical lines of the same importance are
performed at the same time
We will often call these “lines” of music VOICES
When we combine two or more melodic lines into a
meaningful whole (a line of music that resembles a single
musical idea) it is called COUNTERPOINT
Sometimes with polyphonic music one of the melodic voices
is played and then a second melodic voice re-states the
melodic line immediately afterwards – this is called
IMITATION
HOMOPHONIC
A single melody line dominates with the other instrument(s)
provide accompaniment (back up)
LISTENING
FORM
The organization of musical ideas in time is called FORM
Keeping the listener’s interest is achieved through two major
factors:
REPETITION of musical ideas
CONTRASTING music with new and different musical
ideas.
THEME AND VARIATION
TERNARY FORM (Three Part) ABA
BINARY FORM (Two Part)AB